DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.48092#0066
46
durer’s literary remains.
[chap.
sightseer but preceded by the fame which his engravings had
already won for him all over Europe. His Apocalypse and
other woodcuts had been sold in Venice, and local artists there
had been swift to study and imitate them. Thus, if he did not
come as a great man, at least he came as one not unknown.
He was no longer an obscure journeyman, as a decade before
he had been, but he was a master, come publicly to challenge
the masters of a great school of art. He was to leave in Venice
a specimen of the masculine genius of the North, and to show
that Teutons too, the men of cold climates and rainy skies, have
a power of their own in these things and can produce an artist,
when the time comes, to realize for them their grand ideal of
strength.
The painters of Venice, when Diirer was there, formed a
group round Giovanni Bellini as centre. Though already old
(for he was born about 1428), he still retained his powers and
was even showing an increase of them. His vigour of hand and
masculine thought were to some degree the counterparts of
Durer’s own. Diirer, as we shall see, spoke reverently of Bellini,
though he showed himself scornful of the younger men. His
nature was not such as to find delight in the works of gentle
artists like Cima of Conegliano or Vittore Carpaccio. Moreover
he had the misfortune to excite their jealousy. Giorgione and
Titian were then quite young and we have evidence that Diirer
influenced them, but he could not have met them on sympa-
thetic ground and they were not mature enough to be of much
use to him in return.
Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini’s brother-in-law, pro-
duced, and for a long time by means of his engravings had
produced, more effect upon Diirer than any other Italian artist.
He was then living at Mantua and Diirer determined to go and
see him, but before he could carry his resolution into effect
the great man died. Thus the two masters never met—the
northern who could admire the accuracy and learning of the
South, and the southern who could appreciate the strength of
the North.
During his stay in Venice our Albrecht corresponded with
his friends and relatives at Niirnberg. Some of his letters to
Pirkheimer have fortunately survived, and so we can again turn
durer’s literary remains.
[chap.
sightseer but preceded by the fame which his engravings had
already won for him all over Europe. His Apocalypse and
other woodcuts had been sold in Venice, and local artists there
had been swift to study and imitate them. Thus, if he did not
come as a great man, at least he came as one not unknown.
He was no longer an obscure journeyman, as a decade before
he had been, but he was a master, come publicly to challenge
the masters of a great school of art. He was to leave in Venice
a specimen of the masculine genius of the North, and to show
that Teutons too, the men of cold climates and rainy skies, have
a power of their own in these things and can produce an artist,
when the time comes, to realize for them their grand ideal of
strength.
The painters of Venice, when Diirer was there, formed a
group round Giovanni Bellini as centre. Though already old
(for he was born about 1428), he still retained his powers and
was even showing an increase of them. His vigour of hand and
masculine thought were to some degree the counterparts of
Durer’s own. Diirer, as we shall see, spoke reverently of Bellini,
though he showed himself scornful of the younger men. His
nature was not such as to find delight in the works of gentle
artists like Cima of Conegliano or Vittore Carpaccio. Moreover
he had the misfortune to excite their jealousy. Giorgione and
Titian were then quite young and we have evidence that Diirer
influenced them, but he could not have met them on sympa-
thetic ground and they were not mature enough to be of much
use to him in return.
Andrea Mantegna, Giovanni Bellini’s brother-in-law, pro-
duced, and for a long time by means of his engravings had
produced, more effect upon Diirer than any other Italian artist.
He was then living at Mantua and Diirer determined to go and
see him, but before he could carry his resolution into effect
the great man died. Thus the two masters never met—the
northern who could admire the accuracy and learning of the
South, and the southern who could appreciate the strength of
the North.
During his stay in Venice our Albrecht corresponded with
his friends and relatives at Niirnberg. Some of his letters to
Pirkheimer have fortunately survived, and so we can again turn